The Third and Final Week of the 2013 China Program by Professor Susan Tiefenbrun (Photos by TJSL student Ian Seruelo)

The China Study Abroad Program 2013 has now come to an end. We are all experiencing the joys of exoticism, the challenges of living in a foreign land, and the sense of accomplishment having completed this program of international law study. We studied with Chinese professors and Chinese students who will probably remain our friends for life.

After we returned to Hangzhou from the invigorating trip to Beijing and the Beijing Supreme Court, we spent our last week studying hard for final exams, eating up our last bites of terrific Chinese food, or buying our last Chinese silk scarves and purses. We attended our last brown-bag lecture by a corporate Chinese woman from Hangzhou and who has lived and worked in San Diego for the past 40 years. Lulu Hsu's talk was all about women in business in China and in the U.S. She was very informative. She was especially helpful to students of international business transactions because of her first hand experience working with foreign parties.

Students in the program absolutely raved about their unique experience studying international business law in China, and many have told me they want to do the program again. This year was probably the best year in all the seven years we have been running this program. This was due, no doubt, to many factors: (1) the awe-inspiring presence of Judge Pierre Leval, (2) the active participation of Dean Rudy Hasl who actually taught a great course in Comparative Trial Advocacy, (3) the participation of Professor Aaron Schwabach who loves China, speaks Chinese, and is a superb teacher, (4) the participation of Professor Claire Wright who has been living and doing research here in China for the past three months and could share her deep knowledge not only of WTO but of China as well and (5) Lisa Ferreira whose positive attitude, open mind and helpful advice are always indispensable to all of us. The students this year were very respectful, open to learning new types of international legal issues, excited about the adventure of living and studying in China, and very appreciative of everything they were being given in this action-packed program of international law study in Hangzhou, China.

Thanks to all of you, especially the 4 Chinese professors and the 21 Chinese students who participated actively in the program and seemed to enjoy it immensely Until next year!